The invention relates to lubricating machines for lubricating an o-ring on a fuel injector.
After manufacture, fuel injectors are tested on a test line to ensure that they have been properly manufactured. Prior to leak testing, a manual spraying of a test fluid onto the top of an injector o-ring lubricates the o-ring. However, some of the lubricating fluid tends to drain through orifice openings in the injector, contaminating the injector. Additionally, a typical prior art spraying device is a manual sprayer, requiring manual labor to apply the test fluid to the o-ring. Since the test fluid is applied in a spray, volatile organic compound emissions would be generated, causing potential health hazards to the person applying the spray.
Due to the manual nature of lubricating the o-ring and the physical mess generated by the spray, not every injector is sprayed prior to leak testing. This lack of lubrication allows some injectors to give false failure readings from the test stand, resulting in good injectors being discarded.
It would be beneficial to develop an apparatus for which automatically lubricates the o-ring on each injector without the need for manual application and which does not contaminate the interior of the injector with lubricating oil.
The present invention is an apparatus for lubricating a surface. The apparatus comprises a cylinder having an interior wall extending longitudinally therethrough. The wall defines an opening. The apparatus also comprises a lubricating fluid reservoir located upstream from the opening and at least one path communicating the reservoir and the opening. The apparatus also includes a valve located in the at least one path. The valve is operable between a closed position and an open position. The valve is biased to the closed position to close the path. At least one valve opening member is disposed in the opening. The at least one valve opening member is operatively connected to the valve to bias the valve to the open position.
The present invention is also a method of lubricating a surface comprising the steps of inserting a lubricating apparatus over a surface to be lubricated, the surface to be lubricated engaging at least one valve opening member disposed in an interior wall of the lubricating apparatus, the at least one valve opening member opening a valve in the lubricating apparatus; and allowing lubricating fluid in the lubricating apparatus to discharge past the valve and the at least one valve opening member to the surface to be lubricated.
The present invention is also an apparatus which comprises a cylinder having an interior wall extending longitudinally therethrough. The wall defines an opening. The apparatus also comprises a lubricating fluid reservoir located upstream from the opening and at least one path communicating the reservoir and the opening. The apparatus also includes a valve located in the at least one path. The valve is operable between a closed position and an open position. The valve is biased to the closed position to close the path. At least one valve opening member is disposed in the opening. The at least one valve opening member is operatively connected to the valve to bias the valve to the open position. A surface to be lubricated is insertable into the opening such that the surface engages the at least one valve opening member. The at least one valve opening member opens the valve, allowing the fluid to flow downstream from the reservoir, through the path of fluid communication and to the opening to the surface to be lubricated.